Confidence among US consumers unexpectedly dropped in November as the loss of jobs threatened to undermine the biggest part of the economy. The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary sen timent index decreased to a three-month low of 66 from 70.6 in October.

Paulson stakes

John Paulson disclosed that his hedge-fund group bought 300 million shares of Citigroup during the third quarter, while selling its entire stake in Goldman Sachs. The funds cut their stake in JPMorgan Chase to 2 million shares at Sept. 30 from 7 million shares.

MGM plans

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer said it is considering alter natives including a possible sale as it works through a debt crunch. Lenders to the studio have extended their forbearance until Jan. 31.

GM future

GM CEO Fritz Hender son has yet to change the company’s culture, and US pay limits may need to be eased to attract talent, Steve Rattner, the former head of the government’s auto task force, said.

BofA search

Bank of America should ask CEO Ken neth D. Lewis to delay his departure while the company conducts a longer search for a suc cessor, analysts Rich ard Bove and Michael Mayo wrote to clients.

Pushback

Austan Goolsbee, a White House economic adviser, and Neal Wolin, the deputy Treasury sec retary, warned of conse quences if the Fed’s super visory role were crimped, as Sen. Christopher Dodd has proposed.